CatatanBackpacker

We just met our new friend, listening to them sharing stories about their journey and inspire each other. This is one of the greatest interview we’ve ever conducted so far. On this occasion, let me introduce you these two amazing Jakarta based travelers who share an enormous passion in traveling. Ashari Yudha and Dewi Patlia Novitasari are two travelers who have been consistently unraveling their inspirational travel stories through @catatanbackpacker.

@catatanbackpacker plays a role as their platform to share their story through photographs. They’re hoping that people would be inspired and make stories of their own. Here’s our interview with them for our premier Meet The Traveler feature.

Can you tell us a bit about yourself? What do you do?

We both are two born travelers who were simply born to travel. We are more into solo traveling so we both mostly travel separately and then we compile our story and post them on an Instagram account we called @catatanbackpacker. Our daily routine now is currently on travel.

What is Catatanbackpacker? How did it start?

CatatanBackpacker is an account that we both specifically dedicated to share our traveling stories. We cover travel destinations, history and culture, culinary exploration, inspirational figures/individual, our unforgettable moments and also our ongoing travel. This was all started on our first encounter (Yudha and Deva) during our trip to Raja Ampat.

What do you wish to accomplish from Catatanbackpacker?

We are seek to inspire young Indonesians to know about our own country better, from its wonderful sites, history, art, and culture. We live in a rich country, our natural resources are abundant, and it’s too sad that we didn’t know a glimpse of truth of our beloved Indonesia.

During traveling are there any scene you are more into that you’ve been constantly seeking for? (i.e more into hiking, strolling along the coast, attending traditional feast) What makes your travel journey is different and interesting?

Yudha (Yudmin) is more into landscape scene while Deva (Devmin) is more concern about history and culture. That’s primarily the reason why we both felt match about each other and decided to tell our story together through @catatanbackpacker because I don’t I’ve seen a significant numbers of Instagram account which talk about their personal traveling stories (which is a random thing) but wrap it in.

What is the most precious thing you’ve earned from traveling?

Experience and responsibility

Have you ever regretted one of your travel trip? Why?

I don’t think I have albeit all the unfortunate situations we’ve been through. I think it’s all coming back to our personal point of view because for us experience isn’t merely a domain of wonderful things.

Are you more of an organized person who carefully plan your travel trip or a spontaneous person who just go to foreign places you’ve never been to and experience things for yourself? Can you tell us why?

I think most of our trips are spontaneous with no scheduled itinerary. When we go to one place by the time we arrived, we’re going to ask around what places are worth visiting.

What advice can you share for those who want to travel full time but are scared to take the leap?

Never be afraid to take a leap! If you’re fully equipped, you’d better go. Don’t spend time too much thinking this through because eventually it just won’t happen. Everything will run its course.

What has been your most memorable “out of comfort zone” experience?”

There are lots of them. Make a new family for instance. Feeling something new for the first time is very intriguing.

There are numbers of people considering themselves travelers after traveling and yet not few of them are having trouble determining the very true concept of traveling. What is the most common misconception you’ll easily find in new becoming travelers?

I think we all need to look back to ourselves. The concept of traveling for each individual is different from one another. So, we can’t lightly say whether one concept is right and vilify the rest. It depends on each perceptions. But I think it’s important to travel smartly. Don’t harm others, don’t harm nature, and respect the place you step on.

What do you enjoy most during traveling? Taking pictures or other activity?

All of them. Taking pictures, making new friends, attending traditional feast, etc.

What advice can you share with aspiring travelers or tourists?

Keep the spirit! Indonesia is a huge rich archipelago. Never be afraid to take a leap and beware of the travel ticks, once you got bitten you’ll long for another. And SMART TRAVEL.

What is the most challenging part of full time travel?

Home sick. It’s also gonna be hard to part from the new family you’ve just made. Also all the helter skelter life, haha.

Is there any savings tip you can give to anyone who wants to start traveling?

Yudmin had started saving since the first time I met him. It’s a must for him. While for me (Devmin) it’s better if you have two separate saving accounts. One is for your primary savings while the other one is addressed to your traveling needs. So, basically you can save certain amounts of money into your traveling account and you have to make the best of it until the very last dime. You have to be able to use the given amount of money for certain length of time. So, you have to be very careful with spending.

If you’re given a chance to travel to any place, where will you go and why?

Yudmin wanted to go to Wamena, Papua and Miangas island while Devmin wished to go to Mentawai, wanting to know about the history of Mentawai tattoo artistry.

Any travel trip in near future? Where and why?

Yudmin is actually planning to exploring Bangka-Belitung and all provinces in Kalimantan while Devmin is going to go to North Maluku.

Many of us are often stumbled on packing our stuff before going away for traveling? How much do you usually bring with you on your travels ( 1 backpack? one check-in luggage?) And what are the must have items you must not forget?

Yudmin: 1 Semicarrier and 1 sling bag. Devmin: 1 Semicarrier and 1 daypack. It has to be simple. Must have item is sleeping bag or matras for you to sleep anywhere unexpected. As for Devmin she always brings a book.

Can you share any tip for packing?

Bring only things you need. You can always find other stuff at local market except if you hike a mountain that means you can never forget to bring all your gears.

What do you want to achieve this year or years ahead in regard to traveling? Why?

We want to travel 34 Provinces before turning 25!! That’d be our dream.

If given a chance to compose a sentence to inspire people who share the same interests with you, what would it be?

Explore instead of Travel and Share Experience not Only Story. I hope that’s inspiring!

What do you think interesting about Journesia?

It’s an interesting concept which you can tell from its features and also its wonderful web design that able to accommodate stories from travelers. Keep up to date and keep inspiring people to get to know more and better about Indonesia.